Calling all Internet retailers, hop on board the social media train!

InternetRetailer.com has reported that of out of the top 500 E-retailers, over half of them have a presence on Facebook!  Here are the stats provided by InternetRetailer.com:

Out of the Top 500 E-retailers:

• 56.8% have a presence on social networking sites (ex. Facebook)
• 41.4% have a video or have been mentioned in a video on YouTube
• 20.4% have followers on Twitter

Not only do social media sites help to build a brand presence online but they create communities for customers to share their opinions and experiences with these brands.  And if the E-retailers are smart they will not blatantly advocate for their brand but help to build/foster the discussion for more important topics.

Take Tea Collection’s (a designer children’s clothing brand) Facebook promotion for example.  They have created a monthly photo contest, where customers can upload photos of their children wearing Tea clothing.  A winner (little citizen of the month) is chosen and the customer wins $200 of Tea Collection credit.  March was the start of the promotion and over 300 photos were uploaded onto their Facebook Fan Page.

Now there are several reasons why this is working well for Tea.  First, they have built loyal customers dedicated to the brand because of Tea unique selling points:

• Globally inspired apparel for children
• Unique styles and designs with vibrant colors
• Quality fabrics, wearable for kids and washable for parents

Their target market is one of the fastest growing demographics for social media sites.  Mom’s have taken over the social media space, which works in Tea’s favor.

Tea Collection is a perfect example of how an online retailer can use social media to their advantage.  Now I’m not suggesting that every E-retailer go register for all the social media profiles they can find, you have to do what works for your company.  If your company has an older demographic for its target market, say 80+ years old, social media might not be the best way to target is group, for now anyway…

But if you have a unique product who’s demographic already spends time on sites like Facebook and Twitter it would be beneficial for you to hop on the SOCIAL MEDIA TRAIN (after you have a strategy developed)!